Jones Is A Vital Cog

Long gone are the days when full-forwards notched century tallies of goals season after season. Football has developed into a sport which demands a strong involvement from all members of the side. It requires uncompromising commitment, versatility and unselfish team play.

And exemplifying that sort of discipline and an undertaking to share the load was Claremont full-forward Chad Jones in the match against Perth at Lathlain Park on Saturday.

Jones booted three goals to take his tally in 124 WAFL matches to 396. But it is his willingness to cover much more ground than the goalsneaks of yesteryear which makes him a highly important cog in the Tigers machine.  

Frequently Jones is seen helping out on a centre wing, and typifying that was his effort to take a mark 80m out from the goalsquare ten minutes into the fourth quarter against the Demons. He delivered a short pass to Jake Murphy, who took the mark on the 50m arc before going back to slam home the second of his three goals for the afternoon.

It was this sort of undertaking which played an important part in Claremont’s hard-fought 15-point victory over a dogged and determined opponent.

The Tigers will complete the qualifying rounds when they clash with East Fremantle at East Fremantle Oval next Saturday before meeting West Perth in the second semi-final at Claremont Oval the following weekend, on Sunday, September 8.

Claremont have set the standard in the league competition over the past four seasons, contesting 85 matches for 69 wins and a draw and only 15 losses. But nothing is being taken for granted. Coach Marc Webb, his lieutenants and all the players realise fully well that premierships are very hard to achieve and everyone needs to pull in the same direction to win a grand final.

Claremont went into Saturday’s match without captain Andrew Browne, star midfielder Andrew Foster and defenders Jesse Laurie and Tom Taylor and met stern resistance from the Demons, who had to win to retain a slim hope of qualifying for the first semi-final.

Perth were smartest into stride and had two goals on the board before the Tigers got their first major after 17 minutes when Luke Blackwell passed to Paul Medhurst, who took the mark, and in typical fashion, played on and kicked accurately.

David Crawford came under notice late in the term when he smothered the ball off the boot of Brennan Stack, gathered it and cleared it down the scoreboard flank. Perth led by 12 points at quarter time.

Anderson was a shining light in a back pocket in the opening quarter during which he revealed all his sparkling speed, took three marks and had seven kicks. Mark Seaby was in control in the ruck and midfielders Murphy, Ryan Neates and Blackwell and wingers Matt Goyder and Sam Fong were prominent.

The Tigers made a flying start to the second term when Murphy received a free-kick 60m out and then sold a dummy and swerved past Jarryd Morton to steer home a long goal with 54 seconds on the clock.

Claremont took the lead for the first time six minutes into the quarter when Murphy pounced on an errant Perth clearing kick and handpassed to Jack Bradshaw for the side’s third major. Ninety seconds later winger Nick Winmar drove the ball forward where Richardson earned a free-kick when he was slung to the ground when not in possession. He made the most of the opportunity.

Half-forward flanker Matt Davies joined the fun by scoring the next goal and late in the quarter Richardson got the ball to Medhurst, who coolly sent a centering pass to Bradshaw, whose shot was off-line. A Perth defender took the kick-in, but went outside the goalsquare. The bounce-down in the square saw Seaby gain the tap and drop the ball on to his boot for Claremont’s sixth goal and a half-time lead of 16 points.

Tagger Hugo Breakey applied a strong tackle on Morton in the opening moments of the third quarter to earn a free-kick. He then handpassed to Davies, who got the ball on to Bradshaw in the left pocket. But only a behind was the result.

Blackwell was having a significant influence on the contest and he handpassed to Breakey, whose wobbly pass was marked by Jones for his first goal to extend Claremont’s lead to 25 points. But the demons rebounded grandly and piled on 4.2 while holding the Tigers scoreless in the space of eight minutes.

This gave the home side a one-point lead before the Tigers regained some composure and kicked the final three goals of the quarter to go into the final break with a 17-point advantage. Centre-half-forward Anton Hamp marked a Perth switch kick to notch the first of those three late goals.

A move initiated by Goyder on the right wing and involving Richardson ended with Perth’s Michael Sinclair infringing against Bradshaw, who made the most of the free-kick with his second goal. And soon afterwards Fong handpassed to Jones, whose shot was shepherded through by Medhurst for the side’s tenth goal.

Fong, full-back James Thomson and Bradshaw combined to get the ball to Richardson for a Claremont goal two minutes into the final term. Half-back flanker Keifer Yu passed to Hamp, whose pass found a leading Medhurst, who delivered to Jones for Claremont’s 12^th goal. The next came less than a minute later after Jones had passed to Murphy.

Murphy got another four minutes later after he received a free-kick for an over-the-shoulder infringement. This gave the Tigers a lead of 34 points. But Claremont did not add to their in the final 15 minutes and 40 seconds, and during that barren period Perth kicked three goals in the space of five minutes to go down by just 15 points.

Blackwell, Murphy and Neates were outstanding on the ball, while Thomson deserves praise for his determined effort on the towering Fraser McInnes, who failed to score a goal.

Blackwell had 17 kicks, 15 effective handpasses and had a staggering total of 15 clearances from stoppages. His tally of six tackles was equalled only by Murphy, who finished with 13 kicks and eight effective handpasses. Neates had 17 kicks, eight effective handpasses, four tackles, eight clearances and he also delivered the ball inside his side’s 50m attacking zone six times.

By Ken Casellas

Details:

Claremont 14.12 (96) beat Perth 12.9 (81).

Scorers---CLAREMONT: C. Jones, J. Murphy 3.1; J. Bradshaw 2.3; I. Richardson 2.1; A. Hamp, P. Medhurst, M. Seaby 1.1; M. Davies 1.0; S. Fong 0.1; 2pts forced. PERTH: B. Stack 4.2; S. Tunbridge 2.2; P. Bevan 2.0; J. Houghton, J. Leeson 1.1; M. Florio, R. Richardson 1.0; B. Fry, F. McInnes 0.1; 1pt forced.

Best---CLAREMONT: L. Blackwell, J. Murphy, B. Anderson, M. Seaby, C. Jones, R. Neates, J. Thomson. PERTH: B. Stack, J. Houghton, J. Leeson, K. Ransted, J. Jacobs, B. Hodge, D. White.